CASTLE ROCK, SEP-2016

It was on a dark, rainy and lonely monsoon night in 2012 that I first saw the signboard to Castle Rock, a beautiful village in Uttar Kannad, while driving back to Chennai (from Molem, Goa) after my first walk to Dudhsagar on the tracks with my then trip partner David. It was one of those nights in our lives which will remain tangible for it was overflowing with fear, ecstasy and emotions that were driven by the Anmod Ghat section, the first time view of Dudhsagar and the midnight ambience of a monsoon night respectively. I still cuddle on bed when, sometimes, that night disturbs my mind and body 5 years down the lane in my ever searching and desperate life. Two years later, in 2014, I visited Castle Rock again and this time it was for a walk to Dudhsagar with a new friend from the Karnataka side and since then; life turned quiet and I didn’t visit this beautiful region until this unexpected and fast trip. This unexpected trip also resulted in an unexpected plan, which was to hike to the crest of India’s 6^th highest waterfalls (Dudhsagur), while this attempt itself was partly a culmination of a 4 year wait and partly driven by the ban imposed on walking over the tracks. Sometimes “force” leads you to reach a greater satisfaction in life and this led us to start on a busy night from Chennai in pursuit of the beautiful Village Castle Rock, which was approximately 850 Kms away and near the west coast. Castle Rock is that kind of place which has negated the need for a watch, as her timeless ambience will force you to beg for more time to fall in complete love with her. Upon reaching there we warmed ourselves up with cups of Ginger tea @ Whistling Thrush adventure camp, before hiking to a remote waterfall (photo 5) that seemed to be custom created by God for scripting a nostalgic evening out of this beautiful trip. Though the rains were immensely less, the random drizzle kept the monsoon ambience alive and we left back to our camp for a hot bath and cold beer. Interesting things in life happen out of no expectation, as they flood you with surprises and elation when they challenge you with overdose of ecstasy which always overflows and goes waste, goes unnoticed. This time though, I didn’t want the smallest drop of ecstasy to go waste as I planned how the day next should start and end while still the beer was at the half bottle mark and the night, just beginning. A monsoon night is tediously wet and romantically cold, and it takes lots of creativity and enthusiasm to convert it into an evening of everlasting nostalgia, which we effectively did with the group of hilarious friends’ around. The lazy agenda of this jaunt was to explore the hidden fantasy and wilderness of the beautiful village, Castle Rock, and in the process; enthrall ourselves with the mind disturbingly beautiful forests of the Braganza Ghats. This agenda was kicked off with an early morning drive to the last human settlement, Kuveshi, and then; an out of the world hike through the heavenly forests that were created and sustained by God to prevent the onslaught of humans towards the core of an ecstasy that wouldn’t be found anywhere else. After overwhelming the unending battle with blood sucking Leech bro’s, we eventually & inevitably made it to the crest of India’s 6^th highest waterfalls, the once friendly and now unreachable Dudhsagur. Suddenly the world seemed entirely different, that I couldn’t believe where I was standing (Photos 1 & 2), and that moment opened up a whole new perspective to life which was hitherto not thought about in the entire past. Post a beautiful and an unforgettable hour over the top of Dudhsagur waterfall, we returned back to our adventure camp to kick/off our painful departure from this beautiful region, as we had in the past years like a crying baby pulled away from it toy. When we started our drive back to Chennai and as I was sitting with folded hands in the rear seat of the M&M TUV300, I began to realize the ability of one powerful event to outshine the effect of multiple feeble events which keep disturbing your life. In the past I had walked 3 times to Dudhsagur, each lasting over 14 Kms and 5 hours, and every time I would return back to home with “little” bit of discontent hanging around my heart. But only once, this time, I went all out and overcame my fear to go where few dare to, and it filled my heart with dreams and memories that were sufficient for this entire life time that I would never have to meet her again. The drive back to home was brimming with content…